Dating and Maintaining Relationships via Social Media

    I was surprised to learn how many people meet someone online and actually pursue a relationship outside of the computer world with that person. The statistics shocked me:

 

    According to Lorraine Kisselburgh in her February 10, 2010 lecture, 75% of internet users have participated in at least one online dating activity. When I really thought about it, that statistic includes me! When I lived in Spain for five months to study abroad, Ben and I maintained a long distance relationship via skype, AIM, and emails. I feel as though even Skyping among people a close distance apart is becoming even more popular. 

    I think living on a college campus is a whole different situation then what we may face someday. We are surrounded by people our same age who we could potentially marry someday. I know for many people, starting out professionally in a small city presents a variety of new challenges, especially when you haven't found the person you want to marry (pending on if the person even wants to marry of course). I feel as though during that time, young adults might be more inclined to use online dating searches or other online dating activities.

    Obviously I've been referring to using computer for dating activity, but I think it's also important to point out how frequently we use them for maintaining relationships between family, friends, and co-workers. I would say I spend 30-60 min (or more) of every day maintaining relationships via facebook, emails, and twitter. 

    I think the computer can serve as a great way to keep in touch, but many times face to face communication is more efficient. And sometimes, things still need to be communicated the old fashion way, through a letter or postcard. This is a picture of me while I was studying abroad in Alicante, Spain. This picture was actually taken in Málaga, Spain on the Southern coast. Despite my frequent uses of Skype to keep in touch with my parents, I sent them a postcard of every city I visited. It probably would have been easier to just update this blog or email them to tell them about each place, but there is nothing like the personal touch of a hands-on postcard. 

I'm interested in what others have to say here: Do you think computer mediated communication is sufficient in expressing feelings towards a dating partner? Have you ever pursued a relationship with someone you met online? How do you feel about this new era of using social media to keep up with relationships? 

Overwhelmed by Social Media

    My Facebook status this week read "overwhelmed by social media". Sometimes this is how I feel. But lately, I am realizing what a crucial part of communication social media is becoming and the best ways to incorporate it into my career and an organization's public relations strategy. I wanted to share what I have learned just this week about the impact social media is having, plus what I have gathered from social media websites and RSS feeds I follow:
    I attended a PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) presentation given by Rebecca Dohrman, Purdue University Doctoral Candidate, this past Wednesday. I was encouraged by her presentation as she explained how organizations best utilize social media. She presented several examples of organizations who are using blogs or Twitter to relate to their customers. For example, ComcastCares demonstrates how Comcast is using twitter as a way to provide quick and reliable customer service to their customers. Rebecca also showed us one hospital who uses their twitter to update their followers on how long their current wait time is to see a doctor. Who has time to check their twitter on their way to the emergency room? While few people would check it before they go to the ER, the hospital has the potential to attract more clients to their ER because they are constantly providing their twitter followers proof of their consistently low wait times and great customer service. Organizations can use their social media sites to maintain a good reputation with customers.
    For those of you who have not heard of Google Reader, I urge you to check it out.  I simply made a list of sites and blogs I'd like to follow and now I receive updates from each and every one of them as they are posted. It's so convenient to navigate and have the option to choose what I'd like to read on one page versus having to manually google search each site or blog.
    One twitter I follow via Google Reader is Samaritan's Purse. I'd like to comment a bit on how well they use methods of social media to communicate and promote their various projects. Samaritan's Purse, an international relief organization, uses their twitter well in 3 ways:

1. They consistently update their Twitter. As a non-profit organization, it's important for them to let the public know exactly what they are doing to benefit the world. It's easy to see they are involved and committed to providing help in the face of every natural disaster and situations involving extreme poverty and devastation. Receiving constant updates from their twitter page lets donors and supporters of the organization know exactly what is being done with their resources and how to they can help.

2. They use their Twitter to point to news, Facebook updates, and other blogs being written about them. For example, they were able to post a link to Michael W. Smith's Blog Post about relief work being done to help victims of the Haiti earthquake. I have seen various tweets about things I was involved in when I worked in Aurora, Colorado as a media intern for Operation Christmas Child, one of their various projects. For example, they posted links to K-Love Packing parties and links to newspapers who published information from the press releases we media interns wrote.

3. They Use their Twitter as one place to consistently post useful information for those who participate in their various projects. Their Followers are able to use their Twitter as the place to go for the most up-to-date information of Samaritan's Purse projects around the world. For example, they tweeted the most recent information about where volunteers could bring their packed shoe boxes. They also tweeted information for where to donate to help Haiti Earthquake victims.

To sum it up, organizations can use social media to promote their organizations. It's a simple way to utilize public relations via social media, but has the potential to build a great reputation and keep the organization's supporters in the loop.

The Perfect "Face"

When I write on this blog, I choose what I want to say and what I want to leave out. Although I have pictures and stories that you all know are valid, hypothetically, what I post on my blog could be fake.
It's scary what the internet has become. You can log into a website and be anyone you want to be. Each screen name is associated with an email address, which is associated with an actual person. However, other than giving your email address or some login name, we have the ability to create any person ("face") and communicate with others.

I remember when I was in middle school and AOL instant messenger was a HUGE DEAL. In fact, I remember thinking my screen name was awesome: dreambird66. It had meaning. I was a girl full of dreams with a last name of a bird and my favorite number was 6 so why not put two of my favorite numbers linked to a name full of meaning? I loved communicated via instant messenger because it gave me time to truly think about what I was going to say before I blurted something stupid out. I could talk to multiple people at the same time. I could do "homework" and be "getting help from friends on AIM" but really just waste countless hours typing abbreviated messages to my friends.
It's only now that I realize how long I spent communicating via a computer, and how much less time it would have taken to communicate the same message via face to face communication.
I also think computer mediated communication is one reason I love to be multi-tasking. Growing up, I did homework while AIM messages were popping up and I enjoy talking with others while I complete busy work. Even now, I am writing this blog while simultaneously talking on facebook chat.
Perhaps computers take tiny chunks away from each part of our life, although this sounds more extreme than I meant it to. Maybe I need to fully focus on one conversation in order to maintain a relationship with a friend, or fully focus on doing my homework so I can write the best paper I am capable of writing. All in all, I seem to be getting more and more done these days, but am I just rushing through life missing little things because I am multitasking with all of these emerging technologies?

Good Thing For My Classes

Needless to say, I fail in the "keeping up with my blog" department. I didn't send out the final results of the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box drive! But, have no worries friends. Thanks to the importance of emerging technologies in the communication field, I am required to write a blog post once a week! I love it when classes keep me accountable to do things I should have been doing these past few months anyways (another example: reading books).

I think it's crazy how emerging technologies continue to develop even when I'm not paying attention (like when I'm off studying in another country or state). Even since my freshman year at Purdue, new technologies have emerged. For example, all communication majors who pass through PU are going to required to post a blog once a week. Twitter has become just another way to relate to people even if that relationship happens to be via the invisible world of cyberspace. I was recently opposed to accepted all forms of emerging technologies. Someone suggested I get a twitter if I wanted to be "marketable" to future employers, so I went and got one. I am thrilled to actually learn how these technologies relate to my future career.

There are technologies I don't even know about. They are intriguing, and sometimes it makes me sad that I will need to accept these head-spinning technologies simply for a career. That being said, I admit I utilize many of these technologies on a daily basis. The more I understand these emerging technologies, the better understanding I can maintain of our world today, whether or not it's moving at a slightly faster pace than I am comfortable with.
I hope to use this blog as a way to communicate how these emerging technologies relate to my future career. Maybe I can figure out how to link the technologies on this page so you all will actually know what I'm talking about.... hopefully, I'll actually know what I'm talking about : )

For me, the most fascinating part of learning about emerging technologies is anwering questions about what kind of an impact they are having on my life and the live's of their users. Do people relate differently to each other now that we "facebook stalk" one another and already know the answer to questions like, "what did you do last night?" Is studying abroad as much of a growing experience when we can call our friends and family five times a day via skype? No matter where technology takes this world, I hope to be one who maintains the values of interacting with people over solely interacting via cyberspace.